Don't know port from starboard? The Misunderstood Mariner helps make the world of ships and the people who run them understandable and interesting. Along the way, we'll talk about how important the maritime industry is to the modern world, especially economically. Welcome aboard!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Misunderstood Mariners: Robert Louis Stevenson and Christmas At Sea

Note: This post originally appeared December 22, 2009.

British writer Robert Louis Stevenson not only invented the popular characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (in the novel bearing their names), and Long John Silver (in the novel Treasure Island), he was also an accomplished mariner. After a lifetime of ill health, he set out from San Francisco in 1888 on his yacht Casco, and spent the last six years of his life sailing and writing about the South Pacific, especially the Hawaiian Island and Samoa. Among his non-fiction works are In The South Seas (available here from Google Books). He also wrote this poem: